Chandrababu Naidu urges MLAs to regain public respect

Hyderabad: AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu called upon the MLAs and MLCs to redeem the diminishing respect that people had for their elected representatives. “You ask children about their goal or ambition in life. When I asked, many of them either wanted to become an IAS or an IPS officer, an industrialist or even a teacher, but none of them wanted to become a politician. The image of politicos has taken a severe beating due to corruption and inefficiency,” Mr Naidu said.

Substantiating his claim, the AP Chief Minister said some people watched the same movie 15 to 20 times, if it was really good. Likewise, toothpaste serials on television are watched twice or thrice if they are good. “But the moment Assembly proceedings are telecast live on TV, people change the channel or switch off the TV. So behave properly, talk sensibly and take up people’s welfare subjects for discussion on the floor of the Assembly and Council, and also in public life,” he said.

“Now that elections are over and people have given their mandate, let the ruling and Opposition party members fight for welfare of the people. Let us compete with each other to take AP on the path of prosperity,” he said. Stating that sometimes aggressive behaviour might make members popular, he said ultimately people would realise that it was done for cheap publicity.

Referring to adhikaram and dharmam, Mr Naidu said both are important but dharmam is superior. “So let us all fight for dharmam, nyayam and focus on solving the problems of people rather than countering each other just for the sake of it,” he said. Mr Naidu was addressing members of the state Assembly and Legislative Council from the Telugu Desam, YSR Congress, BJP and the Congress who attended the two-day orientation programme. Of the 175 MLAs in AP Assembly, 98 are first-time legislators.